One of the themes that has emerged for the Cowboys over the past two weeks has been the apparent disappearance of wide receiver George Pickens, who has spent the 2025 season mostly on a roller coaster trending upward. the trade for Pickens–a third-round pick going to the Steelers–appeared to be a genius move from Jerry Jones for the first 13 weeks of the season, but against the Lions and Vikings, well, things changed.
It appeared, at times, that Pickens was giving less-than-100% effort against Detroit, a notion that was called out on the national broadcast. Against Minnesota, it appeared that Pickens just could not get free in any meaningful way.
Pickens averaged 95.2 yards on 6.1 catches per game in the first 13 weeks of the year, but in Weeks 14 and 15, that dropped to 4.0 catches and just 35.0 yards. The Cowboys are fortunate to have No. 1 WR CeeDee Lamb on board, and a breakout year from Ryan Flournoy, but still the question persists: Where’s George Pickens?
Cowboys Committed to Getting George Pickens the Ball
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said the team does have some methods it can try to employ to get Pickens going in Week 16 against the Chargers. He was asked if the answer is to simply go more to Lamb and Flournoy if teams keep giving Pickens too much attention. But Schottenheimer said the Cowboys would not simply ignore Pickens.
“We’re never going to do that,” Schottenheimer said. “Move him around a little bit more. I think, we move CeeDee more than George but you’ll see us move George around a little bit more.”
The Cowboys are one of the more motion-heavy offenses in the NFL, but that motion is largely focused on changing things up for Lamb. Now, perhaps, the Cowboys will do that more for Pickens, too.
Good Week of Cowboys Practice Before Chargers Game
But for Schottenheimer, he likes the overall spirit that Pickens has brought to Cowboys practice this week, and suggested it is a sign that he will get his big numbers back on track. That won’t be easy against a Chargers defense that rates, according to Pro Football Focus, No. 6 in the NFL in pass coverage this season.
The Chargers feature two of the best cover corners in the league, Donte Jackson and Benjamin St-Juste. That’s a challenge for Pickens, Lamb and the whole passing game.
“(Pickens is) a great talent and we’ve got to get him going,” Schottenheimer said. “I think the thing for me has been having a really good week of prep. I think he had one of the best practice days of the year yesterday. I think that’s important.
“I think, why? Because I think that gives you confidence going into the game. You’re excited about some of the matchups and some of the things that we have in the plan. These guys feed off that. They’re no different. They get the ball in practice and they’re excited about the game. If they don’t get the ball in practice—not just receivers but, you know, DBs and runners and things like that–they’re a little bit like, ‘Huh, OK.’ We’ll see how the game goes. But he’s been great.”
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